Restaurateur Guilty In Money-laundering Plan

The owner of a popular Key Biscayne restaurant on Friday admitted selling four restaurants and his home to federal undercover agents, who told the couple the money was from cocaine sales.

Stefano Brandino, 55, and his wife Linda, 47, were accused of offering to sell $10 million worth of their property for $17.1 million in drug money.

Stefano Brandino pleaded guilty to conspiracy to launder $17.1 million in monetary instruments, and conspiracy to defraud the Internal Revenue Service and impede the agency's tax collecting function.

Stefano Brandino owned Sunday's on the Bay, which catered to Dade County's tourist and boating crowds. The restaurant is located on opulent Key Biscayne near the Miami Seaquarium. It offered boaters classy waterside dining with a stunning view of downtown Miami. He also owned the trendy Stefano's on Key Biscayne, Salty's of Haulover Beach and Bellini's on Captiva Island.

The couple lived in a 22,000-square-foot bayfront home on Key Biscayne called Il Nido, Italian for ``the nest.''

During Friday's plea hearing before U.S. District Judge Kenneth Ryskamp in West Palm Beach, Linda Brandino pleaded guilty to willfully making a false statement on a tax return.

Sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 17 in West Palm Beach. Stefano Brandino faces up to 20 years in prison while his wife faces up to three years.

The pleas also require the Brandinos to forfeit their interest in all his businesses, including Sunday's on the Bay, Stefano's, Salty's and Bellini's. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of Bellini's, $850,000, will go to the IRS to satisfy some of the couple's outstanding tax liability.

The plea deal also allows U.S. Marshals to begin looking for purchasers for the properties. A trustee appointed by the government has been running the restaurants.

The Brandinos were indicted on Aug. 15, 1995, after federal agents said Stefano Brandino negotiated the sale of the four restaurants and his home for $17.1 million in cash, checks and wire transfers with undercover DEA agents who told him the money was from cocaine trafficking.

The government says Stefano Brandino accepted two downpayments of $20,000 each in cocaine cash toward the purchase of his properties in May 1995.

The Brandinos were not involved in drug trafficking but some of their employees were selling cocaine at the restaurants, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

Posada was the head chef at Stefano's. Neary, a textile mill owner from Hickory, N.C., was accused of offering to launder money for a 15 percent fee. Two other defendants still await trial and another, Mariano Fasano, the couple's banker in Nassau, remains a fugitive.